Ojha adds to India’s aura

Sunday morning, sleepy Nottingham woke up to a steady drizzle. Dull, grey, windy and damp, the weather prompted faces to slip easily into fierce scowls, a complete contrast to the mood in the Indian camp.

India had beaten Bangladesh by 25 runs on Saturday night, a result as comprehensive as they come in this miniature format of the game, all but ensuring smooth passage to the Super Eights stage of the second edition of the World T20 championships.

In Robin Hood’s land, Bangladesh had threatened, briefly, to steal from the rich. Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique had started off their pursuit of 180 in real earnest but then, in one over, Pragyan Ojha killed off their challenge.

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India spin a win in Kanpur, clear Test before IPL carnival

Like a commuter on a rush hour Virar Fast, Virender Sehwag is hanging on to the SUV as Team India gets ready to start yet another victory lap. Coach Gary Kirsten smiles as he watches his team test the capacity of the vehicle, the prize for the man of the series, that has the stand-in skipper and the unofficial team driver for all such occasions at the wheel.

Sehwag shouts in an exaggerated accent, "Gary, come along." The coach doesn't oblige as he has a television interview to give. But watching the new coach in a sea of happy faces around him, it was clear that the Kanpur trip has helped the coach hop onto Indian cricket's bandwagon that has been on a roll for some time now. Dhoni spoke about Kirsten's rapport with the team. "Of course, it is too early, but I think he is hitting the right areas," he says.

It isn't just the coach who's hitting the right areas, but the entire team did that here after being totally off-target during the three-day loss at Motera. They travelled to Kanpur with a lot on their minds. Sunil Gavaskar had spoken about IPL distractions during the Test series and asked Kirsten to crack the whip. Injury had hit the bowling department hard. There was a question mark over Ishant Sharma, who was retuming after an injury.

Intrigue was speculated as shorter-version skipper Dhoni replaced injured Test captain Anil Kumble. The moming that had started with television visuals showing Kumble leaving the team hotel with interpretations of a senior-junior divide in team ended with a number of happy family frames around.

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Dhoni puts seniors on notice: chip in, may change openers

In a tough message to Team India seniors including Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said they need to pull up their socks. In the wake of his side's 18-run loss to Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Dhoni made it clear that the option of changing openers was being kept open.

India slumped to 51/4 before recovering to a competitive total - chasing Australia's 317/7, India were bowled out for 299 - and Dhoni felt the stalwarts need to do more if India has to do well and qualify for the finals of the triangular series.

The direct message to Tendulkar and Sehwag came at the post-match press conference. "The seniors can contribute more," Dhoni said."Gautam (Gambhir) is one of the consistent batsmen. Rohit has done well in patches and I've scored a few runs. If you look at the first five batsmen, if they can contribute and put up significant partnerships, then the lower order - me coming at five or six and Robin Uthappa after me can really go after the bowlers. If Viru, Sachin and Yuvraj do well, it gets easier for the batsmen who follow.But that hasn't been the story till now.

'' So what's wrong? "It's not like they are getting out to rash shots, or that they are not taking up the responsibility.They are getting out to good balls," he said. "You can't really do

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